Cryptic Cravings Read online

  Then Luna repeated the same words and took a drink from her goblet.

  “We are on sacred ground,” I said to Alexander.

  “What?” he said.

  Just then Sebastian turned to Luna. He held her hands and stared lovingly at her. He then took one hand and brushed her hair off of her neck. He smiled and leaned in.

  I shoved the blueprints in front of Alexander and in my loudest voice declared, “We are on sacred ground!!!”

  Sebastian stopped, and everyone in the club turned to me.

  Alexander’s face turned white, but it was Sebastian’s face that was the most horrified. “What?”

  I waved the blueprints. “We are over a real tomb. You are performing a real covenant ceremony!”

  “I thought this was a joke. Just a game,” Sebastian said, stepping back. He looked at Luna, whose bright face fel .

  Sebastian jumped off the stage and shook his head. Disgusted, he pushed past us and headed up the stairs.

  Jagger’s face was red with anger.

  Luna stood alone on the stage. It was the second time she’d been stood up at a covenant ceremony. First by Alexander, and now by Sebastian. Even I didn’t wish that kind of rejection for her. I could see the horror and sadness in her face. One tiny pink tear fel down her porcelain white cheek.

  “Luna—” I said, jumping up onstage to comfort her.

  She gave me a kil er stare that made me shudder. Then she stormed off the stage and out of the club.

  Alexander went after Sebastian. Jagger was nowhere in sight.

  Matt held Becky in his arms.

  While everyone was in chaos, I took a moment at the altar. I imagined Alexander and me standing together over the coffin. He’d recite foreign words and lift his goblet and drink. Then I’d do the same. We’d face each other and stare into each other’s eyes like a dream.

  He’d take me in his arms and give me a lust-fil ed, passionate kiss, then slide his fangs up my shoulder until they met the nape of my neck.

  “I’ve been waiting for this day for an eternity,” he’d say.

  Then he’d take the final plunge.

  I sighed, imagining how happy I’d feel.

  I spun around to find no one else in the room but Trevor, who was staring straight at me.

  “My turn?” he said with a coy smile. “I can be into freaky foreign customs, too.”

  I grumbled and then stormed off the stage and out of the club.

  Chapter 19

  A Storm Is Brewing

  So you think Trevor knows we’re vampires?” Alexander asked the next day when I met him at the Mansion.

  “No, he thought it was just something weird you guys do. But Becky knows the truth.”

  Alexander appeared worried. “Wel , someone was bound to find out, I guess. It’s funny. I came here to escape the Maxwel s and now I’ve brought them to your town.”

  “You couldn’t have known,” I reassured him. “So is the feud back on?”

  “It might be with Sebastian. But I think they were doing it to also get back at me.”

  Just then we heard a knock from downstairs.

  “Alexander, you have a visitor,” Jameson cal ed. We headed out of the attic room and met Sebastian outside the TV room.

  “Thanks, Raven. I owe you one.” He leaned in and gave me a hug.

  “I knew you liked her, but . . . ,” I tried.

  “So how are you doing?” Alexander asked.

  “Pretty good,” he said.

  “What’s going to happen to the Crypt?” I asked.

  “It wil remain open,” Sebastian said, “but Jagger’s losing a partner.”

  “Are you leaving town?” I asked, not able to mask the sadness in my voice.

  “For the first time there is nowhere else I want to go,” he said.

  “Do you want to crash here?” Alexander asked.

  “I don’t want to mess with your setup,” he said. “Besides, I need way more electricity than this Mansion can provide. I’ve found an apartment in town that’s cool.”

  “You’re staying?” I asked excitedly.

  “Yeah, for a little while.” He looked at his shoes as if he was trying to find the words. “I’ve always thought that Onyx was real y pretty. And I don’t like the way Jagger doesn’t pay attention to her. She needs to know what a real boyfriend is like.”

  “And you’re just the man?” I asked, thril ed.

  “Who knows, I might be. Anyway, I just wanted to stop over and say thanks. I have to set up my new place. You guys can come over tonight if you want.”

  “That sounds great. I’l walk you out,” Alexander offered.

  While I waited for him to return, I heard Alexander’s phone beeping from the table. It beeped. And beeped.

  If I wasn’t cal ing him and neither was Sebastian, it might be his parents.

  When I saw the cal er ID, my heart sank.

  Stormy.

  Who was Stormy?

  After a few moments of emotional flatlining, my blood pressure soared.

  What do I do now?

  I couldn’t be that girlfriend—the kind who snoops in drawers and closets and invades emails and texts. Or could I?

  When I saw the number’s prefix, it was definitely foreign. Not from Dul svil e or even the United States.

  I looked at the message.

  When are you coming back?

  I miss you like crazy!

  Luv,

  Stormy.

  Stormy! “Luv?”

  My thoughts raced. Alexander had another girlfriend? It was the last thing I was intending to find. The number was foreign, so this girl obviously didn’t live in Dul sville or even in this country. I hadn’t imagined Alexander could be involved with someone else. Who was this “Stormy”? Was she pretty? Was she a vampire? And was Alexander in love with her, too?

  I paced in my boyfriend’s room. I gazed out the window. I tried to act calmly.

  “That’s cool that Sebastian wil be staying in town,” Alexander said when he reentered the room.

  “Uh-huh,” I said flatly.

  “What’s up?” he asked. “You seemed excited a few minutes ago.”

  “I am,” I said indifferently.

  “You seem weird. Distant. What’s wrong?”

  “Uh . . . nothing.”

  I’d imagined Alexander to be someone that maybe he wasn’t. A guy who was straight and truthful. Who didn’t have girls in every country. He was so handsome and wildly hot, I was a fool to think that girls wouldn’t be throwing themselves at him.

  I was wearing my broken heart on my black lace sleeve.

  “Something’s up,” Alexander said. “I know that face.”

  “I just thought we were only seeing each other,” I said, my voice cracking.

  He was taken aback. “I am. Aren’t you?” he asked, bewildered.

  “I thought you weren’t like other guys, like Trevor.” My heart was aching.

  “What are you talking about?” Alexander asked.

  “Who’s Stormy?” I asked. I handed him the phone.

  Alexander paused. “You read my text?”

  “The phone kept beeping and so I thought it might be something urgent. Something from your mother.”

  “Raven—” he said.

  “Who’s Stormy?” I demanded.

  “She’s my sister!”

  I was floored. “What?” I said. “You have a sister?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “You have a sister?” I repeated.

  “Yes. I have a little sister. Is that so terrible?”

  “No! Wel , yes, it is, because you never told me.”

  “You never asked,” he said, half teasing. “And she never came up. I left my life suddenly when I came here to the Mansion. I didn’t know how long I’d stay. I didn’t plan on getting close to anyone here.”

  “But I’ve never even seen a picture. Or painting.”

  “Do you have a picture of Bil y Boy in your room?”

&nb
sp; “Uh . . . good point. But you’ve never even talked about her.”

  “I didn’t think I’d be able to be close to anyone here—then I met you. And everything changed. But real y, when we’re together, I only want to talk about us.”

  If I didn’t hear it straight from his dreamy lips, I’d have thought it was a line from a romantic movie.

  “Honestly, talking about my family made me kind of miss them. So I never real y did.”

  His voice was so sincere, I felt lonely for my boyfriend’s situation. Here I was surrounded by my family, seeing them every day and celebrating my birthday with them. And Alexander lived in this big old Mansion alone.

  I gave him a huge hug. First, I was sad for his plight, but second, I was so overjoyed that Alexander didn’t have a secret lover. But he did have a secret sister. It was one of the reasons I loved him so much. He was so mysterious, and even after al these months I was stil learning things about him.

  “Do you have a dog, too?” I asked.

  Alexander laughed. “A few pet bats.”

  “Stormy’s lucky,” I said. “She has the coolest big brother in the universe.”

  Alexander beamed at the compliment.

  “I can see why she misses you. I’d hate it if I had a big brother and he left town for another country.”

  “She has ful reign of the house. She’s in heaven.”

  “I don’t think so. Not with a brother like you. Stormy Sterling,” I said. “It has an awesome ring to it.”

  “Her real name is Athena, but we cal her Stormy.”

  “‘A’—like Alexander.”

  He nodded.

  “I bet she’s real y cool.” Then it hit me. “She wants you to come home,” I said.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “So you’l have to go?” I said, my heart breaking again. “For a short visit? Or forever?”

  “It would just be a short visit.”

  “I can’t take that,” I said selfishly. “We are already separated by the sunlight. Now by countries and weeks?”

  “That’s why I convinced her to come here.”

  “So you won’t have to go?”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Then you’l stil be here,” I said, squeezing him with al my might. “And I’l get to meet her, too?”

  “Don’t be so excited. You’l have wished I had gone home to visit. We cal her Stormy for a reason,” he said.

  And with that, Alexander turned off his phone.

  Between creeps and Crypts, nemeses and best friends, pesky mortal families and visiting vampire parents and siblings, we were lucky enough to get any night time together. Alexander took this opportunity to lean in and flash his sexy fangs at me, and then led me into his closet room and opened his coffin and helped me inside.

  He lowered the lid, closing the door on al worlds, mortal and immortal. He drew my hair back and rested his body next to mine. He pul ed me in and kissed me with the heart and soul of a gorgeous, mysterious, and very romantic vampire.

  Acknowledgments

  To these fabulous people for their guidance in my career and support in my life: Katherine Tegen, El en Levine, Sarah Shumway, and Dad, Mom, Mark, Ben, Jerry, Hatsy, Emily, Max, Linda, and Indigo

  PRAISE FOR

  Vampire Kisses

  An ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

  A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age

  “Al in al , a good read for those who want a vampire love story without the gore.”

  —School Library Journal

  “As in her Teenage Mermaid , Schreiber adds some refreshing twists to genre archetypes and modern-day stereotypes.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Horror hooks such as a haunted mansion, a romantic teenage vampire, and a dark heroine who wins against the golden guys make this a title that readers wil bite into with Goth gusto.”

  —The Bul etin of the Center for Children’s Books

  “Schreiber uses a careful balance of humor, irony, pathos, and romance as she develops a plot that introduces the possibility of a real vampire.”

  —ALA Booklist

  Kissing Coffins

  Vampire Kisses 2

  “Raven is exactly the kind of girl a Goth can look up to.”

  —Morbid Outlook magazine

  “Readers wil love this funny novel with bite!”

  —Wow magazine

  Vampirevil e

  Vampire Kisses 3

  “A fun, fast read for vampire fans.”

  —School Library Journal

  Dance with a Vampire

  Vampire Kisses 4

  “This novel, like the first three, is never short on laughs and shudders. Alexander is as romantic as ever, and Raven is stil delightful y earthy. Schreiber again concocts a lively and suspenseful story that ends on a tantalizing cliffhanger. Fans of the series wil be anxious to find out whether Raven’s relationship with Alexander wil survive.”

  —VOYA

  “A good choice for Goth lovers and fans of romantic vampire stories.”

  —School Library Journal

  Also by Ellen Schreiber

  VAMPIRE KISSES

  VAMPIRE KISSES 2: KISSING COFFINS

  VAMPIRE KISSES 3: VAMPIREVILLE

  VAMPIRE KISSES 4: DANCE WITH A VAMPIRE

  VAMPIRE KISSES 5: THE COFFIN CLUB

  VAMPIRE KISSES 6: ROYAL BLOOD

  VAMPIRE KISSES 7: LOVE BITES

  VAMPIRE KISSES: BLOOD RELATIVES

  TEENAGE MERMAID

  COMEDY GIRL

  About the Author

  ELLEN SCHREIBER was an actress and a stand-up comedienne before becoming a writer and moving to her own Dul svil e. She is the author of TEENAGE MERMAID, COMEDY GIRL, VAMPIRE KISSES, VAMPIRE

  KISSES 2: KISSING COFFINS, VAMPIRE KISSES 3: VAMPIREVILLE , VAMPIRE KISSES 4: DANCE WITH A VAMPIRE, VAMPIRE KISSES 5: THE COFFIN CLUB, VAMPIRE KISSES 6: ROYAL BLOOD , and VAMPIRE

  KISSES 7: LOVE BITES. She is also the author of the ful y il ustrated manga series about Raven and Alexander, VAMPIRE KISSES: BLOOD RELATIVES , and a new series about werewolves, beginning with ONCE IN A FULL

  MOON. You can visit her online at www.el enschreiber.com.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCol ins authors.

  Copyright

  Vampire Kisses 8: Cryptic Cravings

  Copyright © 2011 by El en Schreiber

  Al rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCol ins e-books.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

  ISBN 978-0-06-168945-1 (trade bdg.)

  EPub ISBN 978-0-06-207725-7

  11 12 13 14 15 LP/RRDB 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  First Edition

  About the Publisher

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter 3 - Menace

  Chapter 18 - The Covenant

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19